Kim Barraclough
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 30/99) - Come September students and teachers at Sir John Franklin High School can expect to see a lot of changes.

The school is undergoing some major renovations.

"Everything is on track -- the building will start to take on a completely new look come fall," said David Waite, project officer with Public Works and Services who is managing the project on behalf of the Yellowknife District No. 1 School Board.

Although the renovations will continue through much of the next school year, students will have several new facilities to look forward to in September.

The new science area, the automotive shop, the wood shop, the career technology studies area, much of the gymnasium and the gymnasium support services area, mechanical areas and the new main entry will be finished in September.

Then there's more to come when students come back after December vacation.

More renovations will be completed around the gymnasium, the library addition will be completed, the plaza (the main corridor and gathering area) will be finished, as well as the food skills area which will bring service to a cafe and a computer lab is also scheduled to be finished December 15.

The new administration area and the one level portion at the south end of the building will not be completed until the beginning of the next school year.

The team of people who are working on the project are excited about the progress and how things are coming together.

"I just think it's going really well," said Rodney Kirkwood, the project's principal architect with Ferguson Simek and Clark.

"We seem to be working as a team -- if you work as a team you finish well."

Although the co-operation has helped, the job has not been an easy one.

It is currently the biggest construction job going on in the city.